Having sealed their place at Qatar, France round off their World Cup 2022 Qualifying campaign with a clash against second-placed Finland on Tuesday night.
Didier Deschamps's side will finish at the top of the pile after hitting Kazakhstan for eight at the weekend, while their opponents are yet to assure themselves of a second-placed finish.
Match preview
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Despite being forced to play the entire second half with 10 men after Jukka Raitala's horror tackle on Sead Kolasinac, Finland's 10 men swept aside a full Bosnia & Herzegovina outfit to put themselves within touching distance of the World Cup playoffs.
Marcus Forss's chested finish came only a few minutes after Teemu Pukki had failed to break the deadlock from the spot, and while the Norwich City man would not make the net ripple on the day, Robin Lod and Daniel O'Shaughnessy completed the job for Finland.
Markku Kanerva's side cannot pip France to top spot anymore but occupy second place with 90 minutes of football remaining, and a shock win in Helsinki would guarantee them a place in the next round, with Ukraine sat two points behind.
A less-than-favourable result would open the door for Ukraine to try to take advantage as they face eliminated Bosnia on the final day, so Finland's job is far from done and dusted as they seek only a second win from six on home soil across all tournaments.
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On the six-year anniversary of the devastating Paris terror attacks, France stepped onto the Parc des Princes turf with a point to prove against Kazakhstan, with Deschamps's men hardly playing like world champions during their qualification period.
However, Les Bleus' superior quality came to the fore during an 8-0 thrashing of their opponents, as Kylian Mbappe scored four while Karim Benzema (2), Adrien Rabiot and Antoine Griezmann also contributed to the humiliation of Kazakhstan.
In doing so, France assured themselves of a first-placed finish in Group D and boast an unassailable four-point lead over Finland heading into Tuesday's top-of-the-table clash, but Deschamps will not want to see his side lose their unbeaten streak at the final hurdle.
France are one of nine teams in UEFA qualifying yet to suffer a single defeat - winning four and drawing three of their seven games so far - and the Nations League champions enter the final day aiming to triumph for the fifth time in a row in all competitions.
A brace from Griezmann saw France ease to a 2-0 victory over Finland during their World Cup qualifying battle in September, but the Scandinavian side prevailed by the same scoreline in a friendly this time last year and would do well to take inspiration from that historic win on Tuesday.
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Team News
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Finland will be forced into a change at right-back with Raitala suspended for the final matchday, so either Albin Granlund or Jere Uronen could fill in on Tuesday.
Robert Ivanov was also withdrawn through injury against Bosnia, which should mean a recall for Paulus Arajuuri in an otherwise settled XI for the hosts.
Forss will hope to hold his place up top over Joel Pohjanpalo, while Pukki is set to win his 100th cap for Finland as he spearheads the charge.
As for France, Deschamps has no fresh injury or suspension concerns to work around for Tuesday's battle, and the Bleus boss could elect to name a relatively strong XI with Finland going all out to win.
A number of alterations can be expected, though, with Aurelien Tchouameni likely to displace N'Golo Kante amid the Chelsea man's injury woes, while Benjamin Pavard and Kurt Zouma will eye opportunities to start in defence.
Marseille man Matteo Guendouzi was handed a frosty welcome from the Parc des Princes faithful for his pre-match comments, and the 22-year-old will hope to be handed his debut in Helsinki.
Finland possible starting lineup:
Hradecky; Uronen, Arajuuri, O'Shaughnessy, Vaisanen, Hamalainen; Kamara, Lod, Schuller; Pukki, Forss
France possible starting lineup:
Lloris; Kounde, Zouma, L. Hernandez; Pavard, Tchouameni, Rabiot, Digne; Griezmann; Mbappe, Ben Yedder
We say: Finland 1-2 France
Finland ought to take the fight to a France side who may take their foot off the gas slightly with qualification already assured, but some enforced alterations in defence will harm the hosts.
Kanerva's men will likely be relying on Bosnia to do them a favour against Ukraine this week, as an altered France side will also want to finish strong and should prevail in a tight contest.
Top tip
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a France win with a probability of 63.68%. A draw had a probability of 22% and a win for Finland had a probability of 14.36%.
The most likely scoreline for a France win was 0-1 with a probability of 13.97%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 0-2 (12.86%) and 1-2 (9.48%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (10.29%), while for a Finland win it was 1-0 (5.59%). The actual scoreline of 0-2 was predicted with a 12.9% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that France would win this match.
